The invention relates to a shaft coupling of the type which is torsionally stiff, yet can be elastically bent, and which comprises guides, arranged between two coupling halves, at right angles to the axis of rotation, in the form of thin-walled plates, whose overlapping end sections assigned to one another are alternately fixed to the coupling halves between tightening washers by screw connectors.
Such a coupling is known from German Auslegeschrift No. 21 00 052. There the overlapping plates are formed flat so that the plates extending from a common clamping device to various sides run in different planes. With a cranked coupling joint, this arrangement of plates results in forces of reaction which increase the bending resistance of the coupling. Furthermore, since more stresses occur in the plates than would occur with a coupling having a flat annular disk of corresponding dimensions, the area of application of the known coupling is restricted.
These problems do not occur with shaft couplings in which the two coupling halves are connected by an annular disk moving at right angles to the axis of rotation, as this extends in one plane. The problems are also avoided in such couplings where plates whose adjacent end sections are held on adjacent bolts of one coupling half without overlapping one another are used (German Offenlegunsschrift No. 20 56 184). Certainly, the shortened elongation length of the plates caused by this results in increased rigidity of the coupling.